Fresh Maine shrimp

Fred · March 7, 2005

I assume you made the stock immediately after peeling and cooking the shrimp right? Only thing I can think of is that the shells et al spent time in the fridge/freezer before being made into stock.

bigwino · March 8, 2005

I will be so sad when the season ends!

I made up some gambas al ajillo for friends on Saturday night. These little babies were just perfect. Toast garlic slices in lots of olive oil (not too hot!). Take out the garlic slices and then put in the shrimp along with some dried chilies (I also added some pimenton). Poach them slowly and serve hot or warm with lots of bread and the garlic slices sprinkled on top.

They were a big hit.

johnnyd · March 8, 2005

I was not happy with the stock I made from the shells, legs, and roe. It had a sharp smell of ammonia and the flavor was weak with a slight ammonia taint.

Bummer. Your shrimp were out of the water too long. These guys are sooooo delicate. It's also the very smallest that "turn" first, sometimes ruining the whole bag. These have a yellower tint I've noticed. Interesting note: between your post and chrisamiraults, the price at Whole Foods dropped a dollar, possibly reflecting the need to move these critters faster.

... and the price could go south even more! Last night's volume was massive:

3/7/05 - 58,765lbs - 11 boats, 7 trucks

Low price: $0.55

Average: 0.56

High: 0.60

The season ends on the 25th so there are 17 days left.... :sad:

edit to add: Really bad weather the next two days will prohibit shrimping. Seas are expected as high as 22feet and gale-force winds to 45knots. Last night is the last auction for a couple days so the time to shop for them is tonight and tomorrow!

Edited March 8, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

Fred · March 8, 2005

edit to add: Really bad weather the next two days will prohibit shrimping. Seas are expected as high as 22feet and gale-force winds to 45knots. Last night is the last auction for a couple days so the time to shop for them is tonight and tomorrow!
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Ahhh good Gulf of Maine weather. good picture taking weather I bet there will be some good rolers out at the Portland head light.

slbunge · March 8, 2005

edit to add: Really bad weather the next two days will prohibit shrimping. Seas are expected as high as 22feet and gale-force winds to 45knots. Last night is the last auction for a couple days so the time to shop for them is tonight and tomorrow!
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Is the shrimp fleet governed by the same rules as the scallop fleet? Do they lose their days because of bad weather or do they get to just postpone?

I would hate to see people out risking lives with ice building on decks and railings because of those rules. The tragedy of those sailors out of New Bedford shouldn't be repeated.

loper · March 9, 2005

$4.99/pound at the new Whole Foods in Swampscott as well - marked as on sale from $5.99, shell on, heads off.

I just tossed 'em in a bamboo steamer w/ a bunch of other stuff - really wonderful critters - and some of the few shrimp I'm comfortable eating these days.

johnnyd · March 9, 2005

That looks interesting, loper. A ribbon of fresh daikon on top, I presume? More pix of shrimp everybody! I'll try to get some up of my own this weekend.

STONINGTON ME TO MERRIMACK RIVER MA OUT TO 25 NM-
950 AM EST WED MAR 9 2005
...GALE WARNING...
.THIS AFTERNOON...W WINDS 25 TO 35 KT. FREQUENT GUSTS TO 45 KT
THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT. FREEZING SPRAY THROUGH
EARLY AFTERNOON.
.TONIGHT...W WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 TO
4 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. FREEZING SPRAY.
.THU...W WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...DECREASING TO 5 TO 10 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.

Our townhouse overlooks the entrance to Portland Harbor. Last night, I swear the phone poles were gonna come down. The lines were whipping up and down, the snow was going horizontal, and I thought I saw Auntie Em's cow fly by.

Things will calm down enough for the fleet to leave port by Thursday.

edit to add answer for slbunge: The fleet loses the weather days, which is okay because in effect, it's a built-in control on fishing effort, thus preserving the biomass. This storm was big enough to keep everybody in - the rumour is that it got to hurricane force in the gulf.

Edited March 9, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

Fred · March 9, 2005

I think spicy shrimp fajitas are on the menu for tonight......

Johnny those wave heights look low to me for 35+ sustained I'm betting they got monsterous outside last night.

ghostrider · March 16, 2005

Yes!!!!!!! :biggrin:

With the slightly warmer temps, my brain finally thawed enough so that I thought to canvas my local Whole Foods stores. The super-sized WF in Edgewater, right on the banks of the mighty Hudson, has the little buggers, $5.99, heads off! So I made the grueling 12-mile drive & got 1.5 lbs, which should do us for 2 nights. I assume they'll keep one night. The round trip + shopping took 2 solid hours, driving anywhere in Jersey can be grueling.

Season's almost gone but I still got a couple shots at these little guys. Off to the kitchen to see what I can do.

ghostrider · March 16, 2005

Shelling those guys IS a lot of work! But man they are good.

Variant of a shrimpless recipe from Fred Plotkin's Authentic Pasta Book:

3/4 lb Maine shrimp (before shelling)

1/2 lb spaghetti

1/3 - 1/2 cup olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic

pinch dried basil

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup Italian parsley leaves

Boil pasta. Large skillet, sautee garlic in oil, then shrimp for a minute or two. Sprinkle w basil before last 1/2 minute. Add drained pasta to skillet & toss. Drizzle w lemon juice & toss again. Sprinkle w parsley & toss again.

Simplicity, purity of flavors, sweetness of the shrimp comes right to the fore. Struck me after a few bites that this might work better with thyme than the basil, something to remember.

Gonna do something with tomatoes & the remaining shrimp tonight.

johnnyd · March 16, 2005

Harbor Fish Market on Custom House Wharf in Portland had Shrimp in the shell for sale today for $1.59/lb or $1.29 for 5+lbs. Guess which way I went on that deal?

and also shells-off at $6.49/lb. Note the local scallops to the right - monsters!

Friday's Auction yielded 41,564 lbs

12 boats, 7 trucks

Low price: $0.40

Average: 0.48

High: 0.52

Then this week, the volume plummeted:

3/14/05 - 16,745lbs - 7 boats, 3 trucks

Low price: $0.40

Average: 0.46

High: 0.51

3/15/05 - 7,780lbs - 2 boats, 1 trucks

Low price: $0.50

Average: 0.50

High: 0.50

Could be that the shrimpers are beginning to call it quits for the season or pissed off that the price is so low. Hard to say. One thing's for sure...

:sad:

ghostrider · March 16, 2005

Yeah, & I'm going outta town next week so the seasons' gonna end even a couple days earlier for me.

That's a steep falloff! We'll see if any of those shrunken catches make it down to Jersey for the weekend.

Some lessons here for next year.

johnnyd · March 17, 2005

Depending on weather and the whim of wholesalers, there will still be shrimp available at retail up to five or so days after the 25th. After April 1st, buy only the frozen Maine Shrimp.

ghostrider · March 17, 2005

Fiiggerd they might be around for a few days post-3/25, tho not in NJ, who knows.

Quick sauce of olive oil, chopped onion & garlic, half a 14.5 oz can Muir Glen no-salt diced tomatoes, some thyme-heavy herbes de Provence. Turned up the heat at the end & sauteed the shrimp for about 2 minutes. More parsley, plop on top of more spaghetti. Sweet & delectable. If this is all I get of the fresh stuff this year, at least we've had 2 nice meals.

And there's still hope. Can't ask for more.

Last night, only had to toss 1 over-the-hill shrimp. Tonight had to throw 6. Delicate little things. Used a variant of Julia Child's method for storing fish, kept the package in the back of the fridge with one of those big frozen icepacks, the kind you use in a camping cooler, right on top. Kept 'em nice & cold, but even so, they go on you.

johnnyd · March 17, 2005

So I got home with five pounds of fresh shrimp...

and the first handful on the plate became sashimi. I had to struggle a little bit to keep them straight for cleaning, because to my surprise, there was a slight tug going on, like they were trying to jump out of my hand!

Next, I par-boiled a handfull...

... and had them with a little meyer lemon juice. Scrumptious!

I'm peeling the bulk of the bag to get ready for the shrimpless months ahead...

ghostrider · March 17, 2005

Peeling 5 lbs of those shrimp. My hat is off to you.

johnnyd · March 17, 2005

...ding!

...just under twenty minutes. Yield: three containers, each enough to add to a pasta dish for two. I made a quick shrimp salad sandwich w/cucumber using another handful of shrimp in the pot so I guess I ate a pound and shucked four.

Time to go back for more! It's a race against time, I tell you!!! :raz:

Ellie · March 22, 2005

johnnyd--

Is there a reason that you can't freeze them shell on, aside from the convenience? I suppose you could even freeze the shells for a later use.

This is the final week and I have some catching up to do!

johnnyd · March 23, 2005

Ellie,

I did freeze the headless shrimp with their shells one year and when they thawed, the shells had maintained their shape somewhat but the meats were mushy. Since the flesh have a primarily water-based composition, I feel they freeze and thaw at a different rate than calcium-based exoskeletons. Since I failed to preserve the beasties as they were in season, it's peeled only.

The larger commercially available shrimp are flash frozen in a nitrogen-fired freezer that does the job in a fraction of the time my old GE can do it, thus the displays of shell-on tiger (and other species) shrimp at your local seafood purveyor.

Recent Shrimp Auctions:

3/18/05 - 10,327lbs - 5 boats, 3 trucks

Low price: $0.53

Average: 0.53

High: 0.53

3/21/05 - 14,478lbs - 5 boats, 2 trucks

Low price: $0.41

Average: 0.41

High: 0.41

3/22/05 - 10,590lbs - 4 boats, 2 trucks

Low price: $0.40

Average: 0.47

High: 0.55

Made a chowder y'day with pollack (@$2.49/lb, I couldn't pass it up) and about a pound of peeled Maine shrimp. I use a variation of a mid-Cape recipe that adds finely diced green pepper and carrot to bacon rendering, to which I add diced fennel and large dice potato. I used four cups of shrimp-head stock I made last week and two cups heated milk, plus some fresh thyme leaves and a bayleaf. When it was all said and done, I realized I'd forgotten onion, and the vegies I had used were too far front-and-center. Hrrmph. It'll have a whole different character today, so we'll see what can be done to the quart I blithely put in the freezer before tasting the whole batch first! I never said I was that bright now, did I...? :wink:

Edited March 23, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

johnnyd · March 24, 2005

Today's lunch was a little indulgent... but I can't help it: I'm a pig for fresh Maine shrimp!

One big handful of fresh Maine shrimp, boiled in bayleaf for about two minutes, one perfect avocado, a frond of celery and a ring or three of bermuda onion...

... then I added a few cucumber slices, a slice of meyer lemon, and a ricewine vinegar/miso dressing. A twist of white pepper and I'm in shrimp heaven!

Man, I'm gonna miss these little guys.

Last night's auction saw only one boat and one truck arrive to consign 3,268lbs of shrimp, about a tenth of the volume from a month ago, and it appeared to go to one buyer for $0.51/lb.

Edited March 24, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

ghostrider · March 27, 2005

Those last two photos are the perfect farewell to the season.

When I'm eating the frozen stuff at a county fair this summer, I'll remember these months & this thread. It's nice to know more than I did about how those guys get from the ocean to my mouth.

There was a seafood vendor at the Windsor Fair last September that fried up some of the best Maine shrimp I've ever had, given that it had been frozen. I forget their name, but they'd won first prize for best food at the 2003 Fryeburg Fair & advertise that fact prominently. They're also the only place I've seen at a fair where you can watch your order go through the whole process - the flouring, the dipping, the rolling in bread crumbs & the frying - everything was set up on tables under a tent, & they had the whole method down to perfection.

Hpefully another encounter with these folks lies ahead. For now, it's goodbye fresh shrimp & hello Spring.

Edited March 27, 2005 by ghostrider (log)

johnnyd · March 29, 2005

It's been a great shrimp season! :biggrin:

In prior years, the season lasted a mere two or four weeks, a calculated bet by Maine's Department of Marine Resources to manage the fishing pressure on a particular species. This season was about three months based on careful research by the DMR. I can't recall a season this long or this plentiful.

I have had freakin' shrimp at least three times a week since Christmas! Thank god the season's over or I would have turned into one! :wacko:

Thanks everybody for following a typical fishing cycle. It's a rhythm that's lost in the 21st century shuffle along with farming and hunting. Thanks also to Mr. ghostrider for starting this thread and to all who added their culinary angles on these tasty New England morsels.

Last Day of Maine Shrimp Season:

3/25/05 - 688lbs - 1 boat

Low price: $0.55

Average: 0.55

High: 0.55

See you next year! :smile:

edit to add link to pictures of Maine Shrimp Fishermen and the Portland Auction Exchange

Edited March 29, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

ghostrider · May 14, 2005

Here's a curiosity: I just got back from Corrado's, a local emporium of some repute. (You can read more about it in the Jersey forum, or not, as you please.)

At the seafood counter, they had a tub of "Fresh Maine Shrimp." They cetainly looked like the Maine shrimp, but unless someone declared a second season, they had to have been previously frozen (or caught elsewhere, now that I think about it.)

Truth in labeling? I thought of calling them on it, but didn't have the strength at that point in the day.

johnnyd · May 16, 2005

Here's a curiosity: I just got back from Corrado's, a local emporium of some repute. (You can read more about it in the Jersey forum, or not, as you please.)
At the seafood counter, they had a tub of "Fresh Maine Shrimp." They cetainly looked like the Maine shrimp, but unless someone declared a second season, they had to have been previously frozen (or caught elsewhere, now that I think about it.)
Truth in labeling? I thought of calling them on it, but didn't have the strength at that point in the day.
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There's no season on now, and next year's has yet to be determined, so them shrimpies have definitely been frozen!

I am curious: did they have shells-on? Headless? Do tell. Much of the catch was sold to processors here for sale, frozen and headless, all year.

johnnyd · May 24, 2005

For those who visit Portland this summer and want to try Maine Shrimp:

Visited Harbor Fish y'day where Zach pointed out frozen plastic pound tubs of this years shrimp harvest. They looked properly prepared and are a bargain at $6.99 retail.

They don't take anytime to defrost (do not try to accelerate thawing); drain excess moisture before use; one, maybe two day window to use at best.